Totally Spanked

Actually... I've been on Tip.It since 2007... yet like a fool, lost the pass for my original account - I still cannot figure out how that happened - I logged on not too many months ago and all was fine? Huh??. So I'm back to uber-noob status when posting :P As for the gamblers... everything Jagex does to shut them down is best for all of us, especially when we don't have to directly see/deal with it. I know that gamblers, like bot users and other cheaters, can/will do everything possible to accomplish what they want to do. I say make it as difficult and unrewarding as possible. While I'm not a fan of gambling in and of itself, I do on occasion place a friendly wager with friends. To me, it isn't about the cash prize... it's about bragging rights, even if for a short lived period of time. I'd rather have them wear my team's jersey to work on casual Friday than take their money! Knowing the co-workers will let them have it is pleasure enough! Ha!! -Spanked

So... what would you say about your previously mentioned "friend" that was muted for doing nothing? According to your standard... she would never be offered a PMOD position just because she "got in trouble" one time. That wouldn't seem fair, would it? Example: I myself have been given a pair of mutes on the official RS forums... for calling out a scammer on each occasion I got the 24 hour mute. Rather than have the thread get closed for blatant scamming, I was muted and my posts were hidden for "interfering" with the thread. For that and for being sick & tired of dealing with 6 year olds that got away with murder, I stopped using the official forums permanently years ago. It was like dealing with petulant children every time... and it was obvious I was wasting my time. The JMODs seemed to be more interested in making the kiddies happy than actually moderating the forums in an adult fashion... and I still occasionally wonder if some of those JMODS themselves have refused to grow up and that's exactly why the forums went to Hades in a handbasket long ago? Probably so! I full heartedly agree with the sentiment that putting power in the wrong hands would prove to be a disaster though, there is no doubt about that. I was also wondering how on earth... would Jagex ever know if anyone in particular was gambling? Many of the "games" that involve gambling wouldn't be tracked by Jagex in any way... nor do they seem to be doing much about the gambling that is going on where Jagex could definitely be making a difference. Yes, they changed out the slogans from the toy horsey to "Just say NEIGH to gambling!" thus eliminating that possible way of gambling... by they've left the seal e-mote alone. To get rid of that gambling option, all they need to do is change the animation to dump any change in coloring and the numberl that appears on the back of the seal... yet they have not. They also left alone the colored egg animation from the Easter event (ring) and some of the other ways gamblers ply their trade. To my recollection, pretty much all of the ways the gamblers gamble can be eliminated if Jagex CHOSE to do it... yet they have not. Instead, we get more worthless clothing to show off and advertisements for 60 and 90 day mems cards.... which in and of themselves are a ripoff when compared to just paying for a year up front. The bottom line for me is that Jagex has their priorities all messed up and THAT is why nothing is being done about the gambling. Don't get me started on "doublers"... err, "dubblers", "dublers" or "dblrs". Would a PMOD have the power to mute one of these blatant scammers as soon as that player offered to "double"? Perhaps a mute after a single warning to the player to shut the (bleep) up and stop scamming? It seems to me that they do NOT. My fellow players that are JMODS say the answer is yes... yet strangely, I see no PMODS doing it and the doublers scam all over the place all day, every day. Why is this? Either Jagex doesn't put the hammer down and encourage enforcement... or the PMODS don't give a flying rip. My biggest problem with the few PMODs that I do see anymore is that they seem to care not about anything. I've walked into the GE area where about a half dozen gold farmer SPAM bots were in full-blown, chat box spamming mode... advertising gold for sale and power leveling websites... yet those PMODS didn't do anything other than stand there yakking with each other. I would find it hard to believe that they wouldn't be empowered by Jagex to insta-mute website advertisers! Yet when asked as to why they didn't mute the blatant rule breakers... I was told not so politely to piss off. Yeah, that's going to reinforce my belief in the Jagex system of abiding by fair play. While I'm sure that not all PMODs have that attitude, I do know one thing is for sure. Of all the PMODS I have known, almost all of them stopped being a cop almost all of the time due to the ever shifting position of Jagex on the rules. I know this because that is exactly what I was told. I can only conclude that Jagex themselves really isn't interested in having any cast in stone policies... and that's why the game is such a free-for-all in many ways. Hit up server one at the GE... and see how many players are blatantly using auto typers to SPAM the chat box with advertisements for clans or fish masks... or whatever. And you'll see what I mean. Isn't using an auto typer supposed to be a mute-worthy offense? I sure did. Apparently, I was in error! I'll finish up by speaking about PMODS from my own perspective as an adult and long time player... both on F2P and mems. While I have had some good experiences with PMODs, yes I've known a few personally, the majority left me wondering how they ever attained such a status. I say this because they often took advantage of their position of power to push their own agenda. They also often went into what my friends and I called "God Mode" and acted as if whatever they stated was infallible, even if what they said was blatantly false. Yes, I'm saying that I've directly experienced PMODs giving out the worst advice any player ever could because they just didn't know any better. I don't mean they were blatantly caught in a lie... though plenty of that went on too... I'm saying that they were offering advice that was that poor or simply bad because they didn't have either the experience I did as a player or they were too immature to admit someone else may have been correct in answering a question or possibly had a better way of doing things. Yup, that would be ignorance. To me, here's what it really boils down to: MATURITY. Or in the case of the average PMOD, a LACK of maturity. Just as I learned on the official RS forums... dealing with a PMOD is often like dealing with a 6 year old. They're a God of Runescapoe... because they're a PMOD. They're SPECIAL and an EXPERT at everything and if you don't bow down and shoe the proper respect by kissing heine... you'll suffer for it. Then there's the PMOD that's a kid that really goes over the edge... and acts like it. A 6 year old that knows that you have no real recourse against them... such as if they lip off at you in a way that they wouldn't IRL. You see, IRL... a kid knows that if they spout off the wrong thing, they might find the taste instantaneously slapped out of their mouth for a week because you don't dare speak to an adult that way. EVER. On Runescape? You can lip off all you want... and NOTHING happens. EVER. It's like a free license to go far beyond being a brat and well into the territory of deserving the butt blistering of the century. So, for me... no kid should ever attain PMOD status. They simply don't have the intelligence or maturity to deal with complex issues or mature subject matter. Adults have experience, patience and often... can see through the BS to the heart of a matter and deal with it wisely and fairly. Kids? Very easy to manipulate, very impulsive. Sadly, I doubt I'll ever see the day when all PMODs are at least 18 years old... or even 21. Not that age is an indicator of maturity mind you... it just greatly improves the odds. I doubt I'll ever see the day when Runescape grows back up... but you never know. Having a positive ratio of adults to kids would help but that's also doubtful. Jagex doesn't seem to advertise to adults or want to make adults only servers... something I've been suggesting for about 7 years now. Most of the adult friends I've had quit long ago.... because they grew tired of idiots and sheer stupidity. Having a place in the sun all of our own probably would have given them reason to stay. The irony is that they often got onto Runescape so that they could get face time WITH adults! They already had to deal with their own kids when they weren't in school, why would they want to deal with them in-game too?? I know I wouldn't, I cannot blame them for moving onto another game though I do miss them all. -Spanked